Instrumental rock is rock music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of instrumental music in rock can be found in practically every subgenre of the style. Instrumental rock was most popular from the mid-1950s to mid-1960s, with artists such as Bill Doggett Combo, The Fireballs, The Shadows, The Ventures, Johnny and the Hurricanes and The Spotnicks. Surf music had many instrumental songs. Many instrumental hits had roots from the R&B genre. The Allman Brothers Band feature several instrumentals. Jeff Beck also recorded two instrumental albums in the 1970s. Progressive rock and art rock performers of the late 1960s and early 1970s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.
Midnight Oil is the debut album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil which was recorded in 1977 and released in November 1978 on the band's independent Powderworks label. It reached the top 50 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. The album was later distributed by CBS Records and issued as a CD. The LP has a blue cover, however, the CD has a black cover. Because of the blue cover, the former version is often referred to, by fans, as the "blue album" or "the Blue Meanie". The lead single, "Run by Night", became the band's first minor hit in Australia and appeared on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart Top 100. It also had a video clip.
Head Injuries is the second studio album by Australian rock band Midnight Oil, released in October 1979 on their own Powderworks label and distributed by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Leszek J. Karski, recorded at 'Trafalgar Studios' in Sydney. It was the last Midnight Oil album to feature founding bass guitarist Andrew James, who quit the band due to illness. It peaked at No. 36 on the Australian Kent Music Report and by mid-1980 had achieved gold status in Australia.
Surf music is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental surf, distinguished by reverb-heavy electric guitars played to evoke the sound of crashing waves, largely pioneered by Dick Dale and the Del-Tones. The second is vocal surf, which took elements of the original surf sound and added vocal harmonies, a movement led by the Beach Boys.
The Ventures are an American instrumental rock band formed in Tacoma, Washington, in 1958, by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle. The band, which was a quartet for most of its existence, helped to popularize the electric guitar across the world during the 1960s. While their popularity in the United States waned in the 1970s, the group remains especially revered in Japan, where they have toured regularly. The classic lineup of the band consisted of Wilson, Bogle, Nokie Edwards, and Mel Taylor (drums).
The Cruel Sea are an Australian indie rock band from Sydney, New South Wales formed in late 1987. Originally an instrumental-only band, they became more popular when fronted by vocalist Tex Perkins in addition to Jim Elliott on drums, Ken Gormly on bass guitar, Dan Rumour on guitar and James Cruickshank on guitar and keyboards. Their albums include The Honeymoon Is Over (1993), Three Legged Dog (1995) and Over Easy (1998). Some of their best-known songs are "Better Get a Lawyer", "Takin' All Day", "The Honeymoon Is Over" and "Reckless Eyeballin'" – an instrumental track from their debut album Down Below that became the theme of Australian TV police drama, Blue Heelers. The band has won eight ARIA Music Awards including five in 1994 for work associated with The Honeymoon Is Over.
Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1963. They were active in two incarnations, the first as a beat band from 1963–1967, and as a hard rock band from 1968–1973. They emerged in 1964 with their cover of "Poison Ivy", which kept The Beatles from the top spot of the Sydney charts during the latter's Australian tour. They enjoyed further success through 1965 when the original members quit after a financial dispute.
The Bomboras are an American all-instrumental surf band from Los Angeles, California, United States. The band was formed in the summer of 1994, sharing a love of 1960s surf and garage music such as The Ventures, Booker T, and The Sonics.
Barry John Stanton was an English-Australian rock and roll musician. He performed on pop music programs, Six O'Clock Rock, Bandstand, Johnny O'Keefe Show, Sing Sing Sing, Saturday Date, and Woody's Teen Time. He issued a compilation album, A Tribute to the King Rare Songs 1957-1965, in 1988.
"Secret Agent Man" is a song written by P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. The most famous recording of the song was made by Johnny Rivers for the opening titles of the American broadcast of the British spy series Danger Man, which aired in the U.S. as Secret Agent from 1964 to 1966. Rivers's version peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #4 on the Canadian RPM chart, one of the biggest hits of his career. Numerous covers and adaptations have been recorded since then with the song becoming both a rock standard and one of Johnny Rivers's signature songs.
Bombora is an indigenous Australian term for an area of large sea waves breaking over a shallow area such as a submerged rock shelf, reef, or sand bank that is located some distance from the shoreline and beach surf break. In slang, it is also called a bommie.
Bombora is an indigenous Australian term for large waves breaking over submerged rock shelves.
Martin Cilia is an Australian musician. Cilia is best known for his songwriting skills, and his membership in The Atlantics, where he performs on the guitar. Cilia played his first gig in a school hall in Morley High in 1972 with fellow students. He remembered playing songs by The Shadows, The Monkees, The Beatles, and Cat Stevens.
Sven Erik Libaek is a Norwegian-Australian composer, record producer and musician. He composes film and TV soundtrack music and, as the staff producer for the Australian division of CBS Records, influenced the Australian popular music scene in the mid-1960s. In 1982, an album titled Endless Love peaked at number 71 in Australia; his only top 100 charting release.
The Delltones were an Australian rock 'n' roll band, which formed in 1958. They started as a doo-wop, harmony quartet with Warren Lucas, Brian Perkins, Noel Widerberg and Ian "Peewee" Wilson. In July 1962 Noel Widerberg died in a car accident in Brighton-le-Sands in Sydney, and three weeks later the group's single, "Get a Little Dirt on Your Hands", reached the top five on the local charts. Widerberg's position was filled by Col Loughnan. The group disbanded in 1973.
Johnny Rebb, born Donald James Delbridge, was an Australian singer.
Jerald Edward Kolbrak, known professionally as Jerry Cole, was an American guitarist who recorded under his own name, under various budget album pseudonyms and as an uncredited session musician.
The (Original) Surfaris were a surf music band from California. They were active from the early to mid 1960s and had singles released on various labels which included Del-Fi, Northridge, and Reprise.
The Rockin’ Ramrods were an American garage rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, who were active in the 1960s and early 1970s. Along with the Barbarians, the Remains and the Lost, they were one of the most popular acts in the Boston area. While they did not achieve national success, their work is today well-regarded by garage rock collectors and enthusiasts. They are perhaps best remembered for the 1964 protopunk anthem "She Lied." Though best known as the Rockin’ Ramrods, they recorded under other names. They recorded one single as the GTO's.
The Black Diamonds were an Australian garage rock band from Lithgow, New South Wales, which were active under different names from 1959 to 1971. By 1965 the line-up consisted of Glenn Bland on vocals and harmonica, Allen Keogh on bass guitar, Colin McAuley on drums, Alan "Olly" Oloman on lead guitar and vocals, and his younger brother Neil Oloman on rhythm guitar. They signed with Festival Records, where they released two singles. The better-known B-side track, "I Want, Need, Love You", appeared on their first single in 1966 and became a regional hit. It features an pleading vocal over a driving rhythm section and fast guitar breaks. The band toured in support of the Easybeats. In 1967 their second single, "Outside Looking In", was a hit in the Sydney area. In 1968 the group changed their name to Tymepiece and evolved into a more eclectic and progressive style. Briefly changing their name to Love Machine they released a cover version of the Tokens' single, "Lion Sleeps Tonight" (1968). They reverted to Tymepiece and issued an album, Sweet Release, in February 1971 but broke up soon after. According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, "[they] will be remembered as one of the most ferocious garage/punk outfits Australia ever produced in the 1960s."
